A Letter to Neale

Dear Neale Donald Walsch:

I have so many questions regarding CwG , but I think I'll just ask one at this time. I don't recall reading anything about forgiveness. Did God in this conversation mention forgiveness, since forgiveness is such a large issue in Christianity? Also, your format is very similar to A Course In Miracles, in which forgiveness is almost everything. This book has helped me tremendously so far, although it really has scared me in many ways. I appreciate all of your efforts.

Tracey, NY.

Neale Responds

Dear Tracey,

I'm sorry that the book really scared you. You're the first person ever to have told me that. Maybe everyone else was too scared to! But Tracey, I want you to know that I forgive you!

Okay, enough kidding around. Here's what I know about forgiveness. In God's world, it is not necessary. God's "forgiveness" is not required for anything. Forgiveness implies that we could do something to offend God, and that is simply not so. The reason God cannot be offended is that God cannot be hurt or damaged in any way. You cannot "hurt" God's "feelings." You cannot "damage" God's "self-esteem," and obviously you cannot damage God's body. In the absence of the ability to inflict hurt or damage, there is nothing to forgive. And why is it that God cannot be hurt? Very simple. It is because there is nothing that God wants or needs from us. That's right. God wants nothing from us, least of all that we worship Him, much less worship Him in a certain way. Put in another way, God's love for us is unconditional. No matter what we do, God does not give a damn. He gives blessings, but He never gives a "damn."

Does this mean that we do not have to use the tool of forgiveness in our own lives? Well, Eric Segal was right when he wrote in his wonderful novel, Love Story , "Love means never having to say you're sorry." Still, until we reach that level of understanding and mastery, forgiveness can be a powerful learning device. It allows us to "let go" of our grievances, and to move on with our lives. In fact, forgiveness can be one of the single most powerful transformational tools ever.

The truth about us is that we cannot be hurt or damaged either. We simply do not know that. We have gotten caught up in "non-remembrance," forgetting Who We Really Are, and allowing the illusion of hurt and damage to seem very real. It is only when we return to the realm of the absolute, following what we call our physical "death," that we realize that no one has ever hurt us, and that we were "making it all up."

Mind you, we have become so good at making it all up that to us, it seems very, very authentic. But it is not. And in the moment of our transition from this life to the next we will realize this fully. It is in that moment when we will forgive everyone for everything we imagine they have done to us, and in the next when we come to understand that even our forgiveness is unnecessary, because there are no victims and there are no villains, only a divine process which is ongoing. For more on this topic, and a better understanding of it, read the children's book, The Little Soul and the Sun .

Now what is scary about this for some people is that, if there is never any real reason to forgive anyone, and if God does not "punish" us for anything, that must mean we can all do whatever it is we want to do. This, in turn, translates in some people's minds into pure chaos, with everyone running amok and all of us doing horrible things to each other. This idea grows out of the thought that the human race is inherently bad, and that, left to our own devices, with no threats or controls hanging over us, we would all behave very poorly.

In fact, exactly the opposite would be found to be true, as highly evolved beings who once lived under a system of laws and exterior controls much like ours, learned once they stepped out of their fear. It was a fear so strong that they, too, invented a God of vengeance and retribution, just like ours, until they discovered, over the course of many thousands of years, that such a God was not necessary. We are just beginning to learn that on this planet.

Asking! Keep asking! Always live within the question.   That is the way of all Masters.

Love,